A Merry Christmas for Africa

Not much to say here. There's a couple of stories in the news that I wanted people to see though I don't have any commentary besides I hope these stories are signs of hope to come for a continent devastated by greed and misery.

New Congo Constitution All but Approved

draft constitution viewed as a crucial step toward lasting peace in Congo appeared likely to pass Saturday as vote counting from last weekend's referendum neared completion.

With 75 percent of Congo's 40,000 polling centers reporting, 83 percent of Congolese had voted in favor of the proposed charter, while 17 percent had voted against it, according to electoral commission Chairman Apollinaire Malu-Malu.

Final results are due next week.

The charter is meant to pave the way for general elections next year in the central African country, after which a democratically elected government would succeed a transitional administration set up after the two wars that wracked the country from 1998 to 2002.

The constitution would ensure female participation at all levels of government and grant greater autonomy to mineral-laden regions throughout the vast country, but it is viewed by some as another attempt by corrupt politicians to enrich themselves. continued

New Council Takes Control in Mogadishu

Warlords and civilians installed a council Sunday to govern Somalia's capital, an action that further fragments the nation but could bring the city under the control of a single group after 14 years of anarchy.

The swearing-in of the 64 new legislators formalized a break with Somalia's transitional government, which was formed last year under President Abdullahi Yusuf after lengthy peace talks in Kenya.

Somalia has been without a central government since warlords in 1991 ousted a dictatorship. They then turned on each other, carving the nation of 8.2 million into a patchwork of fiefdoms.

The new council contains mainly members of the Hawiye clan that dominates the capital of about 2 million people, which previously was divided under the control of rival warlords. There was no immediate comment from Yusuf, whose transitional government is based in Jowhar, north of Mogadishu.

The U.N. envoy to Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, warned last month that Somalia could become a terrorist haven because it is a failed state where extremist Islamic groups are growing.

A 1992 attempt by the U.N. to intervene in Somalia yielded some success, but deteriorated in October 1993 when U.S. troops tried to capture one of the most powerful warlords, Farah Aidid. That battle, featured in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down," left 18 U.S. soldiers dead.

Mostly Muslim Senegal Celebrates Christmas

Hundreds of young men decked with tinsel wander outside Senegal's mosques, hawking plastic Christmas trees. Women pray to Allah on a sidewalk where an inflatable Santa Claus happens to be hanging.

Senegal may be 95 percent Muslim, but it certainly knows it's Christmas. In fact, for this nation of 12 million it's a national holiday.

Blame it on globalization, which has turned the West's yuletide icons into a worldwide commodity. Or the Internet, or Hollywood, or the availability of travel that allows new generations of Senegalese to sample Christmas at close quarters. But mainly, Senegalese revel in the trappings of Christmas because they can and want to.

Muslims recognize Jesus Christ as a prophet, but don't generally celebrate the date of his birth. Many Muslim societies discourage Christmas hoopla. But Senegalese say they have a long history of tolerance and coexistence with Christians, so why not share Christmas? Continued